


It Could Have Happened

by Kitschgeist



Category: Back to the Future (Movies), Clue (1985)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Humor, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 06:37:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9059878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitschgeist/pseuds/Kitschgeist
Summary: And then there were two strangers, in the dining room, with a theory.





	

"They weren't invited," Wadsworth said, with a distant look, as he tucked the dining room key into his pocket.

"The motorist and the cop weren't invited either," Professor Plum pointed out.

"And the singing telegram girl!" added Colonel Mustard.

"I've never heard of a door-to-door singing telegram before," said Mrs. White.

"Me neither," the Colonel said.

Mrs. Peacock eyed each of her companions. They fidgeted. "Awfully strange for all these other people to come here in the middle of a storm," she said.

"We don't know for sure if we were the only guests invited, do we?" said Miss Scarlet.

She walked across the room to Wadsworth. "We didn't send the invitations."

"I assure you, I did not send any invitations to those...those two," said Wadsworth.

 

 

"Hey!" Marty McFly slammed his fists on the inside of the dining room door. "Hey! Let us out!"

"It's no use, Marty," Doc Brown said, watching the dials and screens of the his instruments. He had taken advantage of their predicament to arrange them on top of the dining table. "They're probably ignoring you."

"Jeez," Marty crouched to sit with his back against the door, "What happens if we're stuck here?"

 

 

"Quiet! All of you!" yelled Mr. Green, red-faced.

The other six stopped squabbling and glared at him in unison.

"Well, I- uh- weren't we on the verge of a breakthrough?" he stammered.  
  
"Indeed, until those two threw a spanner in the works," Wadsworth said, "I haven't a clue why they're here."  
  
"What's stopping you from exposing the murderer now and leaving them locked up?" asked Mrs. White.

He began pacing the room. "Since the strangers, while seemingly completely unconnected to our web of blackmail, are the riskiest witnesses to tonight's circumstances, the murderer might decide to bring the body count up by at least two.

"The murderer might do this regardless of whether he or she has been accused, but if everyone else were made aware this person killed six people tonight, they might give this person free reign to raise that to eight, seeing as no one knows who those two are. And while I doubt any good will come from letting them out now, potentially leaving them to be freed by someone with no qualms about killing them a moment later does not sit well with me."  
  
"Then get rid of the key!" said Professor Plum.  
  
"And trap them here with no hope of rescue?" asked Colonel Mustard.

"The police could get them out eventually," piped Mr. Green.

"Why would the police come?" said Wadsworth, "Nobody called them."

Mrs. Peacock gasped. "You didn't?! We're stuck here with a murderer and the police aren't coming?"

Now Wadsworth was the focus of all the glares in the room.

"It was all going according to plan, Mrs. Peacock," he said, voice getting louder with every word, "Our new visitors have thrown me off temporarily, but I will get us back on track-"

The whole group flinched at the sound of a crash from somewhere inside the house.

"The dining room!" they exclaimed.

 

 

Doc handed Marty another dinner plate. "Careful now!"

Marty hurled it against the door and stepped back from the flying shards.

"Sure hope they care about their dinnerware, Doc."

 

 

Seven pairs of feet ran to the dining room.

"Is that the china?! It is, isn't it? It is! Sirs, what are you doing? For God's sake, don't-" Wadsworth trailed off and started to massage his temples.

"Still want to protect them?" asked Miss Scarlet. The sounds of shattering tableware continued. Wadsworth's hand hovered over his coat pocket containing the key.

"I'll handle this," said Professor Plum, pushing Miss Scarlet and Mrs. White out of his way.

He cleared his throat, and after a long pause, lifted his hands off of both women.

"Dr. Brown, was it?"

"Great Scott, it worked!"

"Er, Dr. Scott Brown?"

"Dr. Emmett Brown, scientist!"

"And you say you drove all the way from California?"

"That's right, at 88 miles per hour! Only took us a couple of minutes!"

The professor turned back to the others and sighed. "You know I lost my licence."

"Because we're time-travelers!" shouted another voice.

Silence.

Mr. Green shrugged. "After everything that's happened tonight, I can almost accept that."

"We could have explained everything if you didn't wrangle us into the dining room!" the second voice continued.

"Do you have to explain anything? Can't you just go back to California?" ventured Mrs. Peacock.

"We can!" said Dr. Brown, "And I promise we will, once we get back to our vehicle. We only wanted to take some readings, and we've finished taking them."

 

 

The group huddled in discussion.

"Suppose we let them go, how do we make sure they leave?" asked Wadsworth.

"Point the gun at them until we see them leave," Colonel Mustard suggested.

Mrs. White raised an eyebrow. "Who would point the gun?"

"I've been told my marksmanship-"

"And if you're the murderer? If whoever has the gun is the murderer?"

"Where is the gun, anyway?" Mr. Green asked. Everyone appeared to draw a blank.

"If the gun wasn't left somewhere in the house," Miss Scarlet said, "Someone has it with them. I suggest we switch off the light, and if anyone has the gun, they put it on the ground, then we switch the light back on."

"After what happened the last time someone switched off the lights with a gun in the room?" said Mrs. Peacock, indignant.

"Alright," said Wadsworth, "The murderer needs to understand that he or she actually did all of us a favour. Our mutual blackmailer is dead!"

The rest of the group nodded.

"Provided the rest of us can keep a secret, something we ought to have learnt by now," he continued, "We can see those two off, stack the bodies in the cellar, and pretend none of this ever happened."

"But we still can't be sure the murderer won't shoot us!" Mrs. Peacock said.

"The murderer would have done it by now, with the lights on, if he or she really wanted to kill one of us," Professor Plum said, "Much easier."

"I'll pick up the gun!" said Mr. Green. The six others turned to him.

"Because I'm not the murderer," he added.

"Wait," said Wadsworth, "Even if Mr. Green is the murderer-"

"I'm not!"

"-the gun doesn't have any bullets left in it."

"Really?" Miss Scarlet asked.

"Really," said Wadsworth.

 

 

"The right shape of shard could be used to stab someone," Mrs. White told Miss Scarlet, as they watched Wadsworth unlock the dining room door, several paces away.

The door swung open, and Dr. Brown and his assistant, Marty, stepped out. Marty was empty-handed, while the doctor held a meter-like device and carried a bulky backpack. Mr. Green kept his gun trained on them.

The colonel and the professor flanked them as the group escorted them to the doorway. Mrs. Peacock trailed behind, looking on disapprovingly.

"Thank you for your hospitality!" said Dr. Brown, without a trace of sarcasm, before he and Marty walked out to their strange car. Marty turned to wave at the house before he stepped inside. Six hands waved awkwardly back.

 

 

"Anywhere from 24 hours to more than half a century, huh, Doc?"

"Yes, if my calculations are correct."

"Pretty big margin of error there."

"Sure is, Marty. But with this new data, I might be able to make more precise estimates."

"Sounds better than staying and seeing for ourselves."

"We might not have remembered anything if we stayed until 'reset', like them. Best not to risk it."

"I was thinking more about the murder aspect of it, Doc, but sure."

The DeLorean came to a halt on the outskirts of Hill Valley. "The 'space' part of the spacetime warp needs more work," muttered Doc.

"I'm just glad to get back to the right coast," Marty chuckled.

 

 

"So what did your parents say?" Doc asked the next day.

Marty looked up from refilling Einstein's feeder. "Same thing. The Hill House murders were in the papers for a good one day. A 'business dispute', maybe with the mafia involved."

"Just as...well?" Doc mused, "I mean, we didn't alter our main timeline. Looks like I was right about where to find a stable time loop."

"But Doc," Marty said, "We don't know if anything really changed or stayed the same, everyone thinks there was a cover-up!"

"Exactly, we don't know," said Doc, "But the readings suggest we were near the end of a loop. One of many surrounding our timeline at that location."

"Still, Doc, it's just your theory," said Marty.

"Of course, Marty! But it's the best explanation I've come up with so far. I can't travel all the loops to prove it, and I wouldn't try, because I suspect they're infinite!" Doc said, gesticulating in circles, "But we know we've escaped the loops because we came back."

Marty paused in thought. "Or we're in a longer loop."

"Well, yes, a much longer loop. We mustn't discount that possibility."

"So if we're in a loop, our timeline's version was still in a loop."

"That's right."

"So I guess...anything could have really happened, Doc."

"Everything happens somewhere, Marty. With all due respect to Einstein, maybe God does play dice."

Marty sighed. "This is heavy."


End file.
